1000 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI48109-2114

The collection was created by the
Marine Corps Historical Center, from its digitized holdings, at the suggestion
of an associate of former President Ford. It includes compact disks of oral histories
(audio files only) with Marines who participated in the Mayaguez action. It
also includes compact disks containing Marine unit operational records from the
Mayaguez action. These disks, as an incidental by-product of
their creation, also contain extensive operational records from the Marine
units' participation in other phases of the Vietnam War. Most of these records date from 1965-1970, but
some concern the evacuations of Phnom Penh and Saigon, and the later transfer
of refugees to the United States. The Ford
Library staff has printed to paper, as an additional convenience to
researchers, all operational records that date from the Ford presidency.

QUANTITY

2.4
linear feet (33 compact disks and ca. 4,000 pages)

DONOR

Gerald
R. Ford (accession number 2004-NLF-031)

ACCESS

Open.

COPYRIGHT

Works
prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in
the public domain.

Prepared by William H. McNitt, May 2006

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marine corps. history and museums division.doc]

INTRODUCTION

The
Marine Corps History and Museums Division collects
oral histories and documents concerning the history of the Marine Corps.In 2004 they sent compact disks containing copies
of materials relating to the recapture of the S.S. Mayaguez
and other aspects of the Vietnam War to former President Gerald R. Ford.He donated them to the Ford Library.

The
CDs contain two sets of material.The
first consists of audio files of oral histories conducted with Marine Corps
personnel who participated in the recovery of the S.S. Mayaguez
after it was seized by Cambodias Khmer Rouge in May 1975.All of the interviews concern the landing on Koh Tang Island and the search for the ship and its
crew.Several interviews record the
memories of survivors of a helicopter crash that took place during the
operation, killing several Marines.

The
second set of CDs contains operational records for several Marine Corps units
involved in the Mayaguez action.Although some documents concern the Mayaguez, the bulk of them date
from 1965 to 1970 and concern these units involvement in other aspects of the
Vietnam War.For the convenience of
researchers, the Ford Library staff has printed to paper all operational
records dating from the Ford administration.In addition to the Mayaqguez rescue
operation, these materials relate to the evacuations of Cambodia and South Vietnam
in 1975 (Marine units assisted with the evacuation) and Indochina refugees (the
Marines were involved with both their evacuation from Indochina and their
arrival in the United States).

Related
Materials (May 2006):

Materials
on the Mayaguez, the evacuations from Cambodia
and South Vietnam, and Indochina refugees appear in a number of Ford Library
collections.Information on all these
topics appears in the White House Central Files Subject File, the Files and
Papers of Press Secretary Ron Nessen, and several of
the National Security Adviser subcollections.The Sea-Land Service Collected Materials
concerning the Mayaguez contain transcripts of oral
histories with the captain and crew of the Mayaguez.Another key collection on the Indochina
refugees is the Theodore Marrs Files.

Audio
files of oral history interviews with Marine Corps personnel who participated
in the operation to recover the crew of the S.S. Mayaguez
after it was seized by the Cambodian Khmer Rouge in May 1975.

Images of selected Marine Corps unit operational records (orders,
reports, clippings, and analyses).Many of the units for which records appear on the CDs were involved in
the Mayaguez rescue operation and a small number of
documents relate to that operation and other events dating from the Ford
administration.The bulk of the
documents, however, date from 1965 to 1970 and concern earlier aspects of the Vietnam
War.

Marine
Corps unit reports, orders, clippings, and analyses dating from the Ford
administration.The Ford Library staff printed
to paper all documents dating from the Ford administration from the CDs in the
previous series.The documents concern
the evacuations from Cambodia and South Vietnam in 1975, Indochina refugees,
and the role of various Marine units in the rescue of the S.S. Mayaguez from Khmer Rouge control.